Articulating Design Decisions, 2nd Edition

Chapter 4. Listen to Understand

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Listen to Understand

Now that you’ve prepared yourself to present your designs and anticipated what the responses will be, you have the opportunity to actually meet face to face with the people who have influence over the project. This is where our skill at communicating really begins, but not because of anything that we say. The first thing we need to do is listen.

Listening is an important skill for every relationship, and it’s no different when discussing design decisions. Listening isn’t just waiting for the other person to stop speaking so that we can begin our response. The entire purpose of careful listening is to ensure that we understand our stakeholders before responding.

An articulate response requires that we use implicit skills such as listening without interrupting, hearing what they’re not saying, uncovering the actual problem they’re trying to solve, and then pausing before moving on. We also must use more explicit techniques like taking notes, asking questions, and repeating or rephrasing what was said. Using these techniques, we can outwardly demonstrate that we are on the same page. Ultimately, we want to be sure we understand exactly what they’re saying so that we can form the best response.

Implicit Listening

Implicit listening is applying skill in understanding what people are saying without outwardly doing anything ...